Organic fertilizers, particularly those manufactured for the home gardener, are generally available in a dry granular form. They are traditionally sold as separate fertilizer components, resulting in an incomplete supply of nutrients to plants. Thus, to administer a complete, or near-complete, fertilizer the user is faced with concocting his or her own mixture. This is a time-consuming, impractical and inconvenient method of preparing a plant food, especially for house plants and other smaller scale applications. Additionally, the user must purchase a multitude of packages of single components, which purchase requires a greater expenditure than if a complete fertilizer could be obtained. The necessity of blending ingredients at the site of use also increases the likelihood of inconsistent results from one batch of fertilizer to the next. Further, when the fertilizer is supplied in granular form, the fertilizer is normally added to the soil at ambient temperatures, thereby limiting the solubility of the materials in the fertilizer. This can be disadvantageous because the availability of many of the nutrients in the fertilizer to the plant may be determined by microbial decomposition of the materials from the organic fertilizer, and decreased solubility results in a decreased availability of the materials to the microbes. Still further, previous attempts to create complete or near-complete fertilizer blends have not addressed the need for convenience in any of handling, shipping or storage, when used with house plants, seedlings, and other small scale applications.
The provision of a complete, or near complete, organic fertilizer is problematic in part because of the wide variety of nutrients that are necessary for healthy plant growth. For example, about 60 of the atomic elements have been found in plants, although it is believed that only 16 of these elements are essential for growth of the plant. Of the 16 essential elements, plants typically obtain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from water and air, while the 13 remaining essential elements are obtained from the soil. These 13 essential elements may be classified as macronutrients, which are required in relatively large quantities, and micronutrients, which are required in relatively small quantities. The macronutrients include the six essential elements nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulfur. The seven micronutrients include iron, manganese, boron, copper, zinc, molybdenum and chlorine. The elements are typically provided to plants via the use of organic or inorganic fertilizers.
Inorganic, synthetic fertilizers are also available for provision of certain of the essential elements to plants, but also fail to provide a complete, or near-complete, fertilizer for the plant. Such inorganic fertilizers are available in a wide variety of commercial brands, and are typically provided in a powder, liquid or tablet form. Inorganic fertilizers typically provide ample amounts of three of the macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), and are typically easy to apply. Such inorganic fertilizers, however, supply only the nutrient elements guaranteed on the label. Additionally, the inorganic fertilizers do not contribute to the structure or texture of the soil or potting mixture, and they do not adequately support the growth and reproduction of the microbes found in the soil that are helpful, often essential, for the growth of the plants. Further, such inorganic fertilizers can burn plant roots if misapplied, and can cause excessive salt build up on plant pots.
Organic gardening techniques are typically preferred over inorganic techniques because the organic techniques more closely resemble processes that naturally occur in nature. Additionally, the use of organic materials stimulate the growth and reproductive capacity of the microbes in the soil, thereby helping to create vital and productive soil.
Accordingly, there has gone unmet a need for an organic plant nutrient composition that provides a complete, or near-complete, organic fertilizer formulation that addresses the whole needs of the plant.
There has also gone unmet a need for a plant nutrient delivery system that addresses the need for convenience in handling, shipping and storage, such as where an organic fertilizer is dry for handling, shipping and storage, but is liquid for administration at a single time to a plant.
There has further gone unmet a need for a method capable of rapidly and effectively extracting essential plant nutrients from an organic composition such that nutrients are made readily available to the plant.
There has additionally gone unmet a need for a method capable of extracting essential plant nutrients from an organic composition such that a predictable amount of nutrients is made available for administration to a plant.
There has also gone unmet a need for a complete or near-complete organic plant nutrient composition that is convenient to prepare and easy to administer to a plant.